In Jonah 4 we see a grumpy and headstrong Jonah. As we see of Jonah throughout a majority of his self-named book, he is behaving like a petulant child. Surprisingly this not unlike the nation and people that he comes from, they too have a historic reputation of being disobedient, stiff-necked and "whiners". He is sort of an encapsulation of Israel as a whole in a single man.
He is angry and upset that Nineveh is saved from God’s wrath and delivered. He prays to the Lord and we see in his pray that what he felt would happen has actually come to pass. A forgiving, compassionate and gracious God has forgiven the Ninevite’s transgressions...just as Jonah had feared from the start. This brings us full circle back to the beginning of the story when he is running from God and making no attempt to communicate with the Lord. We now understand that Jonah didn’t want Nineveh saved. Unfortunately, this mindset puts him in diametric opposition to God. As a matter of fact, in this chapter Jonah is actually critical of God’s forgiving, compassionate and gracious attributes and seems to view them as some sort of weakness. Instead he wishes for death. His request is met with virtual silence. The Lords only response is, “"Have you any right to be angry?" The Lord has a rebel on his hands. Jonah is disgusted with God and rebukes God Himself (foolish). Although Jonah is compelled to God’s Will, he is not convince it was the correct thing to do. We see over and over that Jonah is the center of Jonah’s life. What Jonah feels is right, what Jonah thinks is right, blah blah blah. God has now got is servant were he needs him to get him to understand a profound truth and it will come through Jonah’s own self-centeredness and it will expose the very nature (theologically) of God.
Having established this premise we move on and see and disgruntled Jonah go out and sit down at a place east of the city. He made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD provides a vine (object of Jonah’s affection, just like God has affection for the souls of people in Nineveh) to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort in the desert heat. Jonah delights in its shade. Here we see what appears to be another symbolic parallel: Jonah is saved from distress, Nineveh was saved from punishment. Jonah’s attitude is that God should’ve destroyed Nineveh; instead God sends a weevil and destroys the vine. This little weevil causes the vine to wilt and exposes Jonah to the elements again. God sends a scorching wind and blazing sun that makes Jonah faint. He wants to die. God visits on Jonah the actions he wishes on others. Ironically God again asks a similar question as before, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" Jonah’s response? "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die." Through Jonah’s physical exposure is begins to be exposed to his wayward thinking too.
We now see the essence of the chapter revealed for what it is, “…the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" The Lord wants Jonah to see the contrast between the vine and the people of Nineveh. The contrast between Jonah’s lack of concern for Nineveh’s spiritual welfare and his own physical welfare point to one thing: selfishness.
Jonah’s life has become a series of disorienting reversals. He tries to escape and is trapped (people cannot escape God). When he gives up an accepts his demise he is saved. When he actually obeys God is rewarded abundantly almost to his frustration. In the end God wants Jonah to see that he has no right to be angry. Why? Because Jonah is not the giver or the taker of life, God is. Attachment to a nearly worthless plant was valued more than the souls of 120,0000+ people. Why the plant? Because it gave him shade…his own self-interest. Disobedience through disaffection and/or apathy. This is all a manifestation of a lack of love for anyone but himself. If you cannot love your neighbor, how can you say you love God? God on the other hand loves all and wishes that none are lost but the truth is that it is everyone’s individual decision. God has given us the eternal life, we need only take it. God is so unselfish that He sent His Son to die for people like Jonah. God has the right to give grace to whomever He chooses. In Jonah we see God’s providence and patience, forgiveness, God’s power to humble a city, a love for lost sinners. Most of all in this book we see the need of a servant to have compassion on fallen creations of the Almighty God. These are the exact type of people we need to be preaching too!!!
Allen, Leslie C. "Jonah: God’s Last Word." The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1976. 230-235. Print.
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